Remote Worker Award Shortlisted Winners

In association with

Remote Employment and BT Business are delighted to announce the short listed winners in the national hunt to find remote working champions who could demonstrate how remote working and home working has made a beneficial impact on their business and home life for The Remote Worker Awards.

The Award appealed to hundreds of budding enterprisers as well as larger home based businesses across the country, and remote workers, home workers as well as freelance consultants.

There was also a flurry of entries for the other innovative awards namely The Open Skills University Award, who are giving away a study grant, The Netmums Work from Home Award, where five winners get handed a business start up and The Helen O’ Grady Special Award, which will change someone’s life with their own home based franchise. One of the shortlisted winners also gets to take home a Penthouse Garden Office worth £10k!

Winning CeremonyThe Remote Worker Awards will culminate in a winning ceremony at the stunning Cliveden House in Berkshire on 10th September, where the shortlisted winners will find out if they ahve won this superb prize that will change their working life!

Short Listed WinnersThese five lucky entrants are the best entrants and are now in the running to win a range of fantastic prizes!

Stacey JonesFrom Oldham, Greater ManchesterHomeworking is perfect for Stacey and her husband, Andrew! She has worked in variety of towns so the commute around the M60 in the morning was not always pleasant and an early start was required to avoid the awful traffic!

Now her and Andrew spend their days together working for Arise, the UK's premier customer service operating from homes across the UK.

After spending years working in Financial Institutions stuck in a rigid working routine Stacey decided to break free and open her own Whole of Market Mortgage Brokers back in 2006. Unfortunately as the credit crunch unfolded Stacey and her husband Andrew were forced to rethink their careers and the Arise opportunity presented itself to them at just the right time.

Stacey was always adamant that she wanted to have a career which would allow her to continue to work whilst raising a family and Arise is just perfect for that. She is passionate about promoting the homeworking model and is very active in promoting it to others.

Stacey has been working with Arise since their UK launch back in October 2008 and has entertained a number of the Shop Direct Management team at her home including the CEO Mark Newton-Jones. These visits involved an informal chat regarding how she feels working from home and a demonstration of homeworking in action. Arise even made a DVD of the couple using this same format so that Shop Direct were able to explain to their staff how homeworking worked and an edited version is still used today as a recruitment tool on the Arise website.

Stacey has already been promoted form a call taker to a Performance Facilitator, within 6 months of working with Arise. This means that she now supervises the chat room in which call takers come to her for advice and help with any issues they may have with customer’s whilst taking calls. She also supervises the Certification chatrooms where the new Call takers get to practice their call taking skills prior to certifying.

Stacey is absolutely delighted that with their first child on the way she will be able to continue to pursue her career. She very much enjoys working with her husband and best friend Andrew who is committed to sharing the care of their Baby boy Theo due in December.

Stacey is delighted to be shortlisted for the Remote Worker Award as she believes that homeworking needs to be promoted in the UK. At a time when budgets are tight large Companies need to be made aware of the talented workforce available to them.

“I am delighted to be shortlisted for the Remote Worker Award, I want to shout from the rooftops how great homeworking is from both the individuals point of view and also Companies. I believe the Remote Worker Awards are a fantastic opportunity to promote homeworking and its many benefits.”

Teresa MacphersonFrom Falkirk, StirlingshireAs a Clinical Aromatherapist and Reiki practitioner, Teresa works from home occasionally but predominantly works from complimentary health centres nearby. Prior to this, she worked in healthcare for 14 years as a therapy radiographer treating cancer patients.

Since having her second child, she retrained in aromatherapy and reiki as a means to continue in healthcare, complimentary healthcare, yet create a more flexible schedule to work around the needs of her family. She believes the technology today has given her the means to continue this ideal pattern of her working life.

Teresa said: "Thank you for considering me as a finalist for the Remote Worker Award. It is very exciting to be short listed and I enjoy the fantastic marketing opportunity your award provides. I appreciate you taking my entry into consideration and look forward to meeting you."

Adam WoodFrom Fakenham, NorfolkAdam is employed as a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Consultant and heads up the department which specialises in providing customer service, support and helpdesk solutions.

A few years ago, Adam asked his employer (Prior Analytics) if he could move away from the crowded commuter suburb of Bracknell to an affordable family home in Norfolk and they agreed to allow him to work remotely!

He promplty upped sticks and moved near to family and friends and the seaside. Now, instead of being stuck on the motorway or a crowed commuter train, he can take my kids to the beach in the evening. After work they often sit on the sand eating fish and chips when he would have been crawling round the M25! The advanced technology they use enables him to access his office via a Terminal Services Connection.

Adam said: "I am thrilled to have been shortlisted for this prestigious award. Thanks has to go to my employer Prior Analytics for enabling me to become a Remote Worker in the first place!"

Marieke GuyFrom Melksham, WiltshireMarieke works for UKOLN, a centre of excellence in digital information management, providing advice and services to the library, information and cultural heritage communities.

They are based at the University of Bath and she is lucky enough to be accessible for her three small children.

Marieke first found working remotely and working from home quite a daunting experience, but soon learnt more about how to support herself and wanted to share this information. So she became the UKOLN remote worker champion in 2008 and has made efforts to improve working conditions for other remote workers.

Marieke is also proud to have started a number of support initiatives including starting an email list, ensuring Skype contact during meetings, organising a remote worker training day and encouraging staff seminars to be videoed and shared. She works hard to ensure that her knowledge reaches a wider audience through her blog, Ramblings of a Remote Worker.

Marieke said: "It's very exciting and a great honour to have been shortlisted as a finalist for the Remote Worker Award. I really feel that remote working is a key step towards more inclusive and flexible working practices for everyone. I'd just like to thank the staff at UKOLN (the University ofBath) where I work, they have supported so much along the way."

Shirley PickfordWorks for Anglian Ruskin University From Oakenholt, Flint

Shirley is a university lecturer, specialising in online learning communities who tutors students on a fully online, work-based degree course at Anglia Ruskin University.

Her students are mostly in full-time work , so an online course is often the only way for them to study. She shares their experiences of distance learning, and help to create genuine collaboration between people who have never met each other.

Working from home has allowed her to move anywhere without changing her job, to have more flexibility when she needs it - for example, to look after her elderly parents, and to have a the opportunity for a better work/life balance.

Remote working also means that Shirley can work anywhere with her laptop - this has included motorway service stations, a conference in Manila, working visits to Italy or at friends homes - combining a full time job with opportunities involving travel or fun.

Rather than overcoming adversity, I first moved into remote working because I wanted a change and a challenge after nearly 20 years based in schools as a classroom teacher. Because nobody knows your age online, people often assume that remote workers are young - but along with Her team, we are mostly mature (in age) having held senior positions before deciding that the internet is where we belong.

In theory she believes she should be struggling with the technology - in practice it is a hobby that grew into a job. Home working is very green - no commuting, lots of opportunity to recycle without the excuse that it is somebody else's responsibility.

Shirley would like to win the award to remind her employer - and other employers - that remote staff contribute to the green agenda, are productive and are only at the end of the phone/email. She believes she communicates more- and better - with her team and her students and can often achieve more.

Her home office is usually a big desk in the living room. It gets untidy, but it is the heart of the house in office hours. If I'm on the road for any reason, the office becomes a laptop and mobile phone. I keep everything in one room, so I can ignore it if I want to, but I like the feeling that I can integrate work with life. I've always worked full time, so I know what it is like when work seems to dominate.

Shirley says “I'm amazed and honoured to reach the shortlist, and delighted for my colleagues and students at Anglia Ruskin University who have all been involved in developing a fully online undergraduate degree course. We are all involved in using technology to create more opportunities for work, study and leisure."

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